"This paper seeks to explore the role that shame plays in explaining why people commit crime and how they react when caught. Although shame is often described as central to explaining social conformity, it is argued that traditional accounts of this emotion do not adequately explain why. Research into social influence suggests that social disapproval leads to shame when it provides social validation that particular behaviour is wrong, and that an individuals' response is intimately connected to their identity. Implications of a ethical-identity conception of shame for understanding how individuals respond to censure, as well as why certain individuals may commit crime, are explored."--Provided by publisher.